PBS Commands

A list of useful PBS Pro commands can be found below.

If HPC users would like more information, a very useful PBS Pro User Guide (320 pages) can be found here and a PBS Pro reference guide (592 pages) can also be found at here.

Command	Description	Usage Example	Effect
qsub	Submit a job	qsub myjob	Submits the job “myjob” for the execution.
qstat	Show status of batch jobs	qstat -u bellj	Show the status of all the jobs submitted by the user bellj (Jason Bell).
qdel	Delete a job	`qdel 3221.pbsserver`	Deletes the job with job id 3221.
qalter	Alter a job’s attributes	`qalter -l ncpus = 4 : mem: 512 230`.pbsserver	Changes the attributes of the job 230.
qhold	Place a hold on a job to keep it from being scheduled for running	`qhold 54`.pbsserver	Puts the user hold on job 54.
qmove	Move a job to a different queue or server	`qmove test_queue 43`.pbsserver	Moves job 43 from original queue to test_queue ( may require privileges).
qmsg	Append a message to the output of an executing job	`qmsg -o "output file message" 54`.pbsserver	Writes the message to the output file of job 54.
qrerun	Terminate an executing job and return it to a queue	`qrerun 54`.pbsserver	Terminates the running job 54 and returns it into the queue.
qrls	Remove a hold from a job	`qrls -h u 54`.pbsserver	Releases the user type hold from the job 54.
qselect	Obtain a list of jobs that meet certain criteria	`qselect -u barry -l ncpus.gt. 16`.pbsserver	Gives a list of jobs that are owned by user barry and have used cpu’s > 16.
qsig	Send a signal to an existing job	`qsig -s Kill 34`.pbsserver	This command would send kill signal to the job 34.
xpbs	GUI front to PBS commands	xpbs	Runs the GUI interface to the PBS.

qstat options

Option	Description
(no options)	Displays all jobs
-f	Displays full status of jobs
-a	Displays all jobs in alternative format
-i	Displays jobs (non-running mainly) in alternative format
-r	Displays jobs (mainly running and suspended)
-n	In addition to the basic information, nodes allocated to a job are listed
-u user(s)	Displays jobs of a user or users
-Q	Status of queues
-Q -f	Full status of queues (configuration also)
-q	Status of queues in the alternative format
-B	Batch server status
-B -f	Full batch server status (configuration also)

Job identifiers, queue names, PBS server names or named queues on named servers can be given as additional operands for these options. These restrict displayed information only to these items. For more information about these operands and the qstat command see the manual page qstat(1B).

Job status
Job status is displayed by the command qstat without options, or in an alternative format by using, e.g. the options -a, -i, -r, -n and -u without -f.
When option -f is included, full job status, i.e., attributes including requested and used (if job is running) resources, is displayed.

Queue status
Queue status is displayed by options -q and -Q. Full queue status, i.e., queue attributes including resources (minimum and maximum limits and defaults), is displayed with options -Q -f.

Server status
Server status is displayed by the option -B.
Full server status, i.e., server attributes including resources (limits and defaults), is shown by options -B -f.